Basic PvP Mistweaving (Legion)

Patch 7.3.5

Welcome to my basic PvP mistweaving guide! PvPing as a Mistweaver is incredibly fun and challenging, something every Mistweaver should try a hand at. I am not a high ranked PvPer but still passionate and enthusiastic about everything Mistweaver. Therefore I’ve written this guide to help you get started with mistweaving in PvP.

Content

Gear

In Legion, your gear has very little impact on your PvP performance. All trinkets, bonuses, legendaries, everything is turned off. Including the stats on your gear. Instead you are given pre-set stats that can only be increased by the item level of your gear. The long and short of it is that before you enter instanced PvP, equip your highest item level. Then you’re set to go!

Suggested Talent Build

Tier 30 – Chi Wave
Chi Wave is a good all-around choice. It jumps between allies and enemies, healing and damaging respectively.

Tier 45 – Tiger’s LustThis talent isn’t set in stone, Chi Torpedo is also good. The reason why I suggest Tiger’s Lust is because it’s a speed increase that also breaks roots and snares, which is great to cast on flag carriers or people that need to make a quick escape. Including yourself!

Tier 60 – Ring of Peace (BG) / Leg Sweep (Arena)Leg Sweep is best for arenas since you will need a lot of lock-down to pick the enemy team apart. Communicate with your team members to time your stuns, either to shut down a healer or kill an enemy player.

Ring of Peace, however, is the king of battlegrounds. You can knock players off platforms to their untimely deaths, you can block passages from people following you, and you can create safe-space from melees while you are free casting, and you can deny enemies space to capture the flag. Since you can target Ring of Peace to anywhere you want within 40 yds, you don’t even need to be close!

Tier 75 – Healing ElixirHealing Elixir is the best talent for one reason: the heal is automatic if you go below 35% health, regardless if you’re CCed. That means it can save you while you can’t heal yourself, which is great.

Tier 90 – Summon Jade Serpent StatueThe statue is a great boost for your single target healing, while also allows healing to be active even if you’re interrupted or stunned.

Tier 100 – Focused Thunder (Arena) / Rising Thunder (BG)Focused Thunder gives you an extra empowerment on Thunder Focus Tea, which in majority of the cases you use for instant Enveloping Mists. Instant heals are great since you can’t be interrupted. This talent is good for both arena and battlegrounds, but for battlegrounds I choose Rising Thunder. This is because of an honor talent called Way of the Crane, which flings you into the middle of battle. There’s ample opportunity to use Rising Sun Kick in other words! (More on this below).

Row 1 – Gladiator’s MedallionThere are times when you can endure a crowd control effect without being in danger and there are times when it means life and death to get out of a CC. The medallion are for those times.

Row 2 – Vim and Vigor / Zen Focus TeaUse Vim and Vigor if you often feel relatively safe and off-range for enemies, or use Zen Focus Tea if you often get targeted or if you wreak havoc in the middle of the battle.

Row 3 – Yu’lon’s GiftYu’lons Gift is great for escaping enemies, particularly since roots and snares are so common in PvP.

Row 4 – Surge of Mist (Arena) / Ancient Mistweaver Arts (Arena) / Way of the Crane (BG)For arena, choose either Surge of Mist or Ancient Mistweaver Arts, a lot depending on your play style. Surge of Mist is great for fistweaving and Ancient Mistweaver Arts is great for more traditional elusive healing. I always go for Ancient Mistweaver Arts because I prefer putting up several Enveloping Mists at the same time. The danger of this is of course that it’s easy to run out of mana quickly!

Way of Crane is great for three reasons. Firstly, it breaks stuns, roots and snares effect and you also become immune to them for the 15 second duration. Secondly, your damage is boosted by 50%. Thirdly, 200% of all the damage you do becomes smart healing in an area around you (which means you can heal even if you become nature locked). Now, imagine that there’s a clump of enemy players – you pop Way of the Crane and then starts non-stop casting Spinning Crane Kick. You become an unstoppable wrecking ball that does both great damage and healing. Not to mention, it also gives you greater chance to take down players that target you!

Row 5 – Chrysalis / Counteract MagicChrysalis is a great default talent for both arena and battlegrounds since Life Cocoon is a very important cooldown. Counteract Magic can be good in those cases when you’re up against dangerous DoT classes.

Row 6 – Fortune Turned / Refreshing Breeze
In arenas you will need boosted single-target healing, so Fortune Turned is a true lifesaver. When you combo it with Ancient Mistweaver Arts, you can really dish out a lot of healing on a single target. As for battleground, you need more cleave and AoE healing. Refreshing Breeze boosts your Vivify healing and, in case you use Essence Font, extends the EF buff. This is great for battlegrounds where you often find yourself in need to heal multiple targets at the same time.

Playstyle – Battleground

A Mistweaver’s mission in PvP is to be as elusive and annoying as you can be. Too elusive to be caught by DPS and too annoying by doing great healing and disrupting enemy movement. Mistweavers have great tools for mobility at their disposal and can be excellent flag carriers. While much in a battleground hinges on the cooperation of the team, there are rules of thumb that can greatly advance your PvP playstyle. Here is a list of strategies that can help:

On the first push the DPS often pops all their cooldowns. Surviving the first clash gives you a great advantage, so be equally ready with Revival, Way of the Crane and Life Cocoon!

Fight at bases and at flags. Midfighting can serve a purpose to distract, but make sure not to be distracted yourself.

Try to make kills at flags and bases (in appropriate battlegrounds) to take full advantage of the Honorable Defender buff.

Don’t let yourself be kited off from key areas!

Healers should generally stand at max range to avoid getting targeted by enemy players. If you get roped up in the middle, try to disengage with Transcendence or Roll/Torpedo.

If using Way of the Crane, make controlled pushes into the battle. It doesn’t hurt to have a pre-placed Transcendence to quickly get out of the battle when the buff goes out.

Be elusive – Transcendence, Chi torpedo/Tiger’s lust and Roll.

Mistweavers have enough damage to pick off low health targets. Although you should be elusive, don’t be afraid to dish out damage as well! The trick is to learn how and when to pick your fights.

Mistweaver Tips & Tricks

Isle of Conquest – This battleground will often become a zerg fest. The first clash will almost always happen by the docks and it’s important that the raid survive it. Pop all your cooldowns there to keep your allies alive! Then pick a vehicle, bomb the gates and kill the boss.

Deepwind Gorge – In Deepwind, there are three bases Mistweavers can help defend. Most prominently, Ring of Peace can block people from capturing them. If you take the flag cart, you can take the path that goes over the bridge and block the bridge with a Ring of Peace.

Temple of Kotmogu – The Temple is fairly straightforward. Pick up the orbs and try to survive in the pit for as long as possible. Mistweaver can pre-place a Transcendence above the pit and around the corner pillars to kite more easily.

Silvershard Mines – The mine branches out to three capture points from the middle. When escorting carts, always stand within the its radius and push out enemies with Ring of Peace and slow them with Spirit Tether. The northern path also have a bridge; put up a spirit there in case you get knocked off and then knock down players yourself with a well-placed Ring.

Twin Peaks – In a typical capture-the-flag battleground, Mistwavers can pick the flag and quickly rtun through the field. It’s also easy to follow ally flag carriers and heal them with instant Enveloping Mists (by Thunder Focus Tea or Surge of Mist if you’ve picked that talent). If you’ve taken the Tiger’s Lust talent you can also give flag carriers a speed boost.

Inside the bases, Mistweaver can either Transcend up to the second floor and block Enemy Flag Carriers by putting up a Ring of Peace at the exits.

The Battle of Gilneas – In this battleground there will often be full-blown team fights. Mistweavers should keep out on the fringes and help allies capture the flag and block enemies from doing the same. Ring of Peace is as always excellent in both cases. Also, keep Transcendence around the corner of the houses or across the water to allow for a quick exit if you get targeted.

Alterac Valley – This old gem is all about capturing and defending towers and bunkers until they all burn and then quickly take down the big boss at the end. Often there will be opportunity for raid healing rather than just smaller parties. Raid talents can be a good option in this particular battleground.

Eye of the Storm – This is a favorite of mine since Mistweavers excel at the midpoint battle. Apart from capturing and defending bases, you can also pick the flag in the middle where the path is narrow and dangerous. Not only can you know down players from the high-ground with Ring of Peace but also block them entirely from entering the middle if you put the ring by the rocks. If you get knocked off the ground, use Transcendence to quickly save yourself. Pick the flag and Chi Torpedo/Roll/Tiger’s Lust to the bases.

Arathi Basin – The basin also offer chances to knock down players, most notably by the Lumber Mill but also above the Gold Mine. Help capture and defend at least three bases to win the fight!

Warsong Gulch – The first purebred capture-the-flag battleground that is still going strong today. Mistweavers can quite cheekily pick the flag by taking the upper route to the base, place a Transcendence spirit at the upper floor, jump down and pick the flag then instantly teleport up. Run through the arena, take the tunnel and block enemies from following you with Ring of Peace at the entrance.

Another favorite tactic of mine is if you are flag carrying and waiting for EFC to die is to stand at the roof of the base. Place a Transcendence spirit there and as soon as an enemy comes up, jump down and hide below. They have to jump down to get line of sight on you, but then you quickly teleport up to the roof again. I’ve once made a Demon Hunter go crazy by doing this four times in a row to him.

Playstyle – Arena

The arena calls for quite different tactics than the battleground. Rather than being objective-oriented, your only mission in arenas is to pick the enemy team apart. This can escalate to quite intensive fights that revolve around using your cooldowns right and try to find opportunities for lock-downs. Mistweavers should always keep distance from enemy players, until the time you need to help take down those at low health. If you get targeted you need kite, which Mistweavers happen to be excellent at. Just don’t get chased off from your allies! Keep them in line of sight.

Mostly you want to hammer down at the enemy team until they’ve popped all their defensives then stun, and kill them. Lock down healers with Leg Sweep and Paralysis when you attempt it! If you become target for the same tactic, use Gladiator’s Medallion to break out of CC and pop Zen Focus Tea to uninterruptedly free cast. Instant Enveloping Mists (by Thunder Focus Tea, Surge of Mist or Ancient Mistweaver Arts) are great to avoid being interrupted and nature locked as well.

Prestige and Rewards

One of many reasons to PvP (other than fun Mistweaver play) are the rewards that are tied to the Prestige system. There are cool mounts, pets, titles and the awesome artifact PvP appearances (which are unlocked for all three specs). To quickly traverse the long grind of honor, remember to do the PvP World Quests and the first win in battlegrounds/arenas every day.